Paul Melendy News

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) will present the world premiere of The Lowell Offering by Andy Bayiates and Genevra Gallo-Bayiates, the galvanizing true story of Lowell's a?oeMill Girls,a?? from March 18 to April 12 at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, according to Executive Director Bonnie J. Butkas and Interim Artistic Director Terry Berliner. Jess Hutchinson directs.

MRT celebrates the holidays through December 22 with the imaginative and radiant The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, a new companion piece to last season's Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley – both based on the characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents the second installment of what will become a trilogy co-written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, about the close-knit sisters from Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Paralleling the upstairs Christmas-time festivities featured in last year's MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY at Pemberley Estate, the lives, loves, and intrigues of the downstairs denizens take center stage in THE WICKHAMS: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY. Mr. Darcy, lord of the manor, his wife Lizzy, and her sister Lydia are all back to link the two worlds, and they are joined by Lydia's roguish husband, George Wickham, and three of the hard-working house staff.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) will celebrate the holidays with the imaginative and radiant The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, a new companion piece to last season's Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley a?" both based on the characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, according to Executive Director Bonnie J. Butkas and Interim Artistic Director Terry Berliner.

If there's one thing that summer theater should be, it's fun, and Gloucester Stage Company's production of THE 39 STEPS happily fulfills the requirement. Actually, it is more than fun - it is laugh out loud funny, thanks to the witty script, the crisp direction by Artistic Director Robert Walsh, and the antics and split-second comic timing of a quartet of actors who play over 150 characters without going off the rails. Joining them on stage is Malachi Rosen, a Foley Artist who produces a litany of sound effects, allowing the audience to see and hear how every door slam, train whistle, and gun shot happens. The 1935 film was a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but the stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow heaps large helpings of farce and satire atop the story, while maintaining a high level of suspense.

Greater Boston Stage Company announces its sixth production of the Mainstage season. In March, the Giving Voice Foundation Trust Drama Series play, The Moors, takes the stage.

Gloucester Stage Company continues its 40th Anniversary Season of professional theater with Patrick Barlow's witty mystery play The 39 Steps from July 5 through July 28 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. This award winning comic thriller adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow, from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and from the 1935 movie by Alfred Hitchcock, premiered on Broadway in 2008. The 39 Steps has played in over forty countries world-wide, winning Olivier (United Kingdom); Helpmann (Austraila); Moliere (France) and Tony Awards. The play garnered the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy; the 2008 Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design; the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience; the 2009 Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production; and the 2009 Moliere Award for Best Comedy.

Greater Boston Stage Company proudly announces Tiny Tim's Christmas Carol, a joyful, family-friendly spin on a holiday classic. Tiny Tim is determined to have his father home for Christmas day even if it means teaching Ebenezer Scrooge a lesson in Christmas cheer. Adapted from the classic Charles Dickens' novel by Tony Award winner Ken Ludwig ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) and his son Jack, this heartwarming hour-long Christmas tale is full of family fun for all ages. Directed by Sarah Elizabeth Bedard, performances run December 8 - 23, 2018.

Timeless tale re-imagined with contemporary spin by Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers. Jeremiah Kissel makes GSC debut in title role opposite Andrea Goldman, under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Walsh.

Gloucester Stage Company continues its 39th season of professional theater with the New England premiere of Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers' Cyrano from July 13 through August 11 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Robert Walsh directs this adaptation of Rostand's 1897 classic, Cyrano de Bergerac. According to Walsh, 'Cyrano, a new adaptation of the famous play by Edmond Rostand (Cyrano de Bergerac), by Brenda Withers & Jason O'Connell, is a fast-paced, contemporized version featuring a small cast breathing fresh life into this large-scale classic.  Witty, clever, insouciant and fully enjoying the poetic bravura through a modern-day lens and very approachable language, this New England premiere will be perfect for Gloucester Stage!  A beautiful tale told with panache.'

Centastage, Boston's launchpad for new theatrical works by New England playwrights, presents Noir Hamlet, a new full-length play in one act, from June 14 through 30 at the Plaza Black Box Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston. Noir Hamlet is written by local playwright John Minigan and directed by Joe Antoun. The production is supported by The Bob Jolly Charitable Trust.

Centastage, Boston's launchpad for new theatrical works by New England playwrights, presents Noir Hamlet, a new full-length play in one act, from June 14 through 30 at the Plaza Black Box Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston. Noir Hamlet is written by local playwright John Minigan and directed by Joe Antoun. The production is supported by The Bob Jolly Charitable Trust.

Centastage, Boston's launchpad for new theatrical works by New England playwrights, presents Noir Hamlet, a new full-length play in one act, from June 14 through 30 at the Plaza Black Box Theatre at Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston. Noir Hamlet is written by local playwright John Minigan and directed by Joe Antoun. The production is supported by The Bob Jolly Charitable Trust.

Gloucester Stage Company opens it 38th season with the New England premiere of John Kolvenbach's play about a pair of brothers who decide to try robbing a bank in an unwise career move. Taking the money turns out to be much easier than finding a way out of the executive washroom. A sympathetic bank teller, a cooperative cop, and a hostage who harbors some secrets all play a part in determining a convoluted outcome.

Gloucester Stage Company kicks off its 38th season of professional theater on Cape Ann with the New England Premiere of John Kolvenbach's Bank Job from May 19 through June 10 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. For two brothers, Russell and Tracey, new to the armed robbery industry, what seems like easy money turns out to be a lot more difficult than it looks in the movies in John Kolvenbach's hilarious Bank Job. When heist plans A and B (and C through F) fail, the brothers find themselves locked in the executive bathroom with no way out and no choice but to depend on a brave bank teller, a guileless cop, and the man in the shadows who put them up to the whole thing. A fun comedy, Bank Job is about the holes we dig ourselves into-and the unexpected comrades we trust to dig us out. Directed by GSC Artistic Director Robert Walsh and featuring GSC veterans Johnny Lee Davenport, Nael Nacer, Richard McElvain and Paul Melendy and GSC newcomer Shuyi Jia..

New Repertory Theatre presents the Boston area premiere of the final component of Richard Nelson's four-play cycle. Weylin Symes, the producing artistic director of Stoneham Theatre, returns to the helm with the stellar six-member cast of Joel Colodner, Laura Latreille, Karen MacDonald, Paul Melendy, Bill Mootos, and Sarah Newhouse. The actors are the strength of the production, providing a master class on working as an ensemble. REGULAR SINGING is a feel good drama, but, at two hours, less would be more.

Let's hope that THE LAST SCHWARTZ is not the last we'll see of the combined works of Deborah Zoe Laufer and Paula Plum. Following the success of the pairing of playwright and director in last summer's hilarious hit OUT OF STERNO, Gloucester Stage Company reunites the talented tandem for a pleasure ride to the dilapidated country home of the dysfunctional Schwartz family in Lake Huntington, New York. The witty, insightful New England premiere is given its due by a crackerjack cast who look like they've been performing together for months, not days.

Featuring seven productions, New Rep's 2016-2017 season includes Regular Singing, the fourth and final play in Richard Nelson's Apple Family series, presented in collaboration with Stoneham Theatre; Good, CP Taylor's historical, political drama; Fiddler on the Roof, a revival of the Tony award- winning musical, featuring Jeremiah Kissel as Tevye and directed by original Broadway cast member Austin Pendleton; Thurgood, a one-man play featuring Johnny Lee Davenport as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Brecht on Brecht, a play with music based on the collective works of Bertolt Brecht; Golda's Balcony, a one-woman play featuring Bobbie Steinbach as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir; and The Gift Horse, a sharp comedy by nationally-acclaimed local playwright Lydia R. Diamond in a Boston-area premiere.

Stoneham Theatre stages the third installment in Richard Nelson's four-play series with the director, design team, and cast intact from the earlier entries. They are a cohesive, well-oiled team, but while SORRY gets deeper into the personalities of the characters, it fails to deliver the political goods that we would expect from its setting on Election Day, 2012. Of course, no fiction could match the histrionics of the real life 2016 election-year campaign.

Stoneham Theatre continues the journey from last season's That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad (which was performed at Gloucester Stage), to SORRY, the third of Richard Nelson's The Apple Family Plays, directed by Weylin Symes. Performances run from tonight, February 25, through March 13, 2016. Press Opening isSaturday, February 27, 2016 at 3:00pm.